Colorado’s college population isn’t as white as it used to be, and officials say it’s through no work on their part.

In fact, they say a declining white enrollment is reflective of a change in Colorado’s overall population.

A little over 75 percent of Colorado’s total undergraduate enrollment in fall 1997 was white. By fall 2016, white students made up 61 percent of those enrolled in the state’s colleges and universities, according to the Colorado Department of Higher Education.

That mirrors Colorado’s racial makeup, which is currently almost 69 percent non-Hispanic white.

“You look at the state as a whole, and that is a reflection of what is going on on our campuses,” said state demographer Elizabeth Garner.

But the Trump administration is viewing college admissions with suspicion, hinting that white applicants are being passed over by less-qualified minority students. The U.S. Justice Department is redirecting its civil rights division to work on a new project aimed at investigating and possibly suing schools and colleges that use “race-based discrimination” in admissions.

Many see the move as an attack on affirmative action policies that encourage recruiting and maintaining minority students.

Others see it as a long-overdue check on misused policies that harm not only whites but minorities as well.

“By using race and ethnicity rather than actual social and economic disadvantage, racial preferences harm many low-income Asians as well as whites,” said Rudy Gersten, executive director of the conservative-leaning Center for Equal Opportunity.

“But it also places many black and Hispanic beneficiaries at a disadvantage too,” Gersten said. “Students admitted with lower test scores and GPAs also struggle at institutions where their preparation isn’t sufficient, resulting in higher dropout rates, lower college GPAs and failure to graduate in a timely matter, increasing their debt.”

A special report by the Heritage Foundation found that the dropout rates among students admitted because of affirmative action polices were more than twice that of their white peers. Another study of top law schools found more than 50 percent of African-American law students, many admitted through affirmative action policies, were in the bottom 10 percent of their class.

Raul Cardenas, vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, said he is glad CU Denver’s enrollment mirrors the local population. “Our reputation is that we represent the state of Colorado and the city of Denver in our enrollment, and I’m proud to say we do that.”

Nonwhites make up roughly 45 percent of the city and county of Denver’s population.

That is close to the breakdown at CU Denver, where 43 percent of the institution’s enrollment are students of color. And like Denver, minorities are growing in number at the school. At least 57 percent of the new freshmen enrolled CU Denver are students of color.

That’s good news to Cardenas, who says all Denver residents should be welcome at the school, no matter their race or background.

“We want to serve our residents and be accessible to them,” Cardenas said. “When we do that, everything else falls into place.”

RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post

Students hang out at the Auraria Campus on Sept. 8, 2017 in Denver.

Grades and college exam scores — not a student’s race — are the biggest keys to a Colorado college or university, Cardenas and other school officials say.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that having a diverse student population has educational benefits, and institutions can use race as one factor among many in considering admissions.

Officials at Colorado’s largest universities say they have nothing to fear from Justice Department scrutiny of their admissions policies, which are in line with recent Supreme Court decisions.

At the University of Colorado, the state’s largest college system, race is considered a “secondary” factor when considering a student’s application. Primary factors include grades, scores on SAT or ACT college entrance exams, economic and social backgrounds, and other skills, said Melissa Hart, director of CU Boulder’s Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law at Colorado Law.

“It’s all part of a package of what a student brings to a school,” Hart said. “Race is a minor secondary factor. And secondary factors do not outweigh primary factors.”

Hart said it’s a waste of time and resources to redirect the Justice Department’s civil rights division toward investigating policies that might discriminate against white applicants. “It’s really bringing up an issue that’s already been settled,” she said.

And yet there remain lingering suspicions that white applicants are being passed over in favor of ethnic minorities. One group — Students for Fair Admissions — has filed multiple lawsuits in recent years related to affirmative action, claiming applicants were denied admission to colleges and universities because of discriminatory policies that disadvantaged white and Asian students.

“There has been a growing sense of white victimization that white people are being discriminated against. But the facts on the ground don’t bear that out,” Hart said.

White students made up 67.1 percent of the 31,861 students enrolled in fall 2016 at CU Boulder. Hispanics made up 10 percent of the enrollment; African-American enrollment was 2.4 percent. The city of Boulder, meanwhile, is more than 90 percent white. Hispanics make up just over 10 percent of its population.

Andrea Herrera was so fearful she would feel out of place at CU Boulder, she decided instead to enroll at Metropolitan State University. “There just didn’t seem to be as many Hispanics at CU. I just didn’t know if I would feel comfortable,” Herrera said.

She flourished at Metro State, where 39.5 percent enrolled are students of color. She will graduate next May with a communications-related degree.

“It’s so well-rounded here,” said Herrera, 21. “Here you get people from all races and ages — one of my best friends is 52.”

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The University of Colorado leadership is grappling with how to address a nationwide nosedive in the favorability of higher education — particularly, among conservatives — as CU’s own representatives and decision-makers disagree on what’s behind the downturn.

The number of adults getting degrees or certificates beyond their high school diploma increased this year, while Coloradans of color also showed educational gains, according to state figures released Thursday.

The Angevine Middle School physical education teacher placed on administrative leave earlier this month on suspicion that she assaulted a student who refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance has been cited for child abuse and assault, Lafayette police confirmed on Tuesday.